Real Presidents on Film: A Look at 10 of the Best

In his book Four Scores and Seven Reels Agao: The U.S. Presidency through Hollywood Films — a deep look at real presidents on film as well as fictional commanders in chief — author Dale Sherman briefly discusses the 2000 Mel Gibson movie The Patriot; briefly because despite its setting during the Revolutionary War, George Washington is only briefly seen — and this before he was actually president.

"But what we do see of Washington in The Patriot solidifies a common representation of how Hollywood depicts the presidents of our country," says Sherman in an exclusive interview. "At one point in the film, Heath Ledger’s character, a soldier in the Continental Army, is lying on the ground and cranes his neck up to see Washington (Terry Layman) striding by on his horse.

"The view of the soon-to-be 'father of our country' is presented as if from the paintings we all grew up seeing of Washington: looking strong and solemn as he goes by in his crisp uniform and flowing cape on his sturdy horse," he continues. "Just like that soldier, we as an audience look up high and feel that sense of awe of the character because we want to think of our president in that light: like a deity, stainless and powerful. It’s how we commonly view Washington, Lincoln, Kennedy, and a handful of others that have served and how we expect our presidents to behave in the movies."

At the same time, he acknowledges that such a perception has ebbed and flowed in Hollywood because of the public's preconceived ideals of the time, wishing for a leader like Harrison Ford's James Marshall in Air Force One, but grudgingly accepting well-intentioned bumblers like Jack Nicholson's James Dale from Mars Attacks!.

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Opines Sherman, "How we see the president in films demonstrates how we see ourselves as a people and a nation. As we step ever closer to the 250th anniversary of the nation in 2026, and with a controversial presidential election before us in November this year, a look back at the movie presidents may give us insight not only to history, but also understanding ourselves, starting with 10 films showcasing real presidents of our past."

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1. Ralph Bellamy as Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Sunrise at Campobello (1960)

Ralph Bellamy (well-remembered today for his role as one of the Duke Brothers in Trading Places) probably wasn’t the best interpretation of FDR from Hollywood – his “Happy Warrior” is so intent on being happy, even when unable to move in bed, that you wish he'd take a little easy on the medication – but it was an important advancement in the depictions of presidents at the time of the film’s release.

"Being media-savvy," says Sherman, "FDR made it a priority that radio shows and the movies rarely showcased him as a character, and only briefly and in the shadow (for example, see Jack Young as FDR in the classic Yankee Doodle Dandy; slightly off-camera and never shown in good light). This policy continued after FDR’s death through the Roosevelt family, but in the late 1950s, producer-writer Dore Schary convinced them to allow a film to be made about his fight with polio (some now believe it may have been Guillain-Barre syndrome). The issue then became who to play the part that the family would agree to."

Actor Ralph Bellamy, who was determined to win the role, was picked after he arrived at Schary’s doorsteps looking as much as FDR as possible. Being able to get some dramatic work at a time he was becoming increasingly known as a game show panelist, the movie allowed Bellamy to at least play out some of the frustrations Roosevelt had while in recovery, and it was this mission to humanize FDR that led to Bellamy winning a Tony Award when playing FDR on Broadway in a warm-up to the eventual movie adaptation."

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Says the author, "Edward Herrmann in the 1970s was the definitive Roosevelt in television’s Eleanor and Franklin, to the point where he became the go-to-guy for the role in things like Annie (1980), but Ralph Bellamy's performance in this film is an important part of Hollywood’s developing portrayal of the presidency, moving him back from the sidelines seen in movies of the 1930s through the 1950s and into the spotlight to show their more human moments."

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2. Charlton Heston as Andrew Jackson, The President’s Lady (1953): Real Presidents on Film

When it comes to Charlton Heston, who plays Andrew Jackson in The President's Lady, Dale Sherman takes the view that "Heston is as Heston does," the actor's performances not deviating very much from movie to movie.

"At this point in his career, he had positioned himself in roles namely as a mountain man or westerner, so playing the seventh president was fitting in a way," he suggests. "There’s a lot of disjointed history in the movie (some events are a decade or more out of place), but the focus is not on politics, but instead on Jackson’s marriage to his wife, Rachel (Susan Hayward), which turned out to be bigamy, since her first husband did not divorce her until a time after Jackson married her. It would become a blemish on his campaign for the presidency and some suspect led to her death a short time after he won the election, but obviously great material for a movie devoted to their love story.

"Further, the hero of the Battle of New Orleans was still held in high esteem by the public at the time, with many seeing Jackson as a man of the people who fought for the working class and wearing his heart on his sleeve in both loyalty and in anger. Heston, who obviously was in better shape and with stronger features than the real Jackson, hits enough of the right notes in our perception of the man at the time that he would even return to play Jackson again in an extended cameo five years later in Cecil B DeMille’s film, The Buccaneer (1958).

"As we moved into the 1960s, however, public sentiment on Jackson soured as emphasis was made of his racism, his contributions to the 'Trail of Tears,' his 'spoil system' attempts to hire cronies to federal positions, and his financial maneuvering that led to the Panic of 1837. Jackson, an 'action president' who was a favorite topic of Hollywood movies up to that time, suddenly became a forgotten story."

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3. Bryan Cranston as Lyndon B. Johnson, All the Way (2016)

The way the author views it, President Lyndon B. Johnson was commonly depicted for a number of years as a "big Texan goon" who tended to say and do foolish things. This he blames on events of the late 1960s and the advent of satirical comedy on television that would mock the Oval Office.

"LBJ managed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time," he suggests, "finding the full blast of this new comedic fury that have engulfed presidents ever since. Hollywood soon followed, such as in The Right Stuff (1983), where LBJ is played by Donald Moffat and seen having a childish fit in the back of a limo. Even later attempts with stars like Tom Wilkinson and Michael Gambon still focused on the thick Texan accents and a well-known story about LBJ taking meetings while he was in the john, to show an almost mocking side to the president even in otherwise serious dramas.

"Then HBO produced All the Way (2016), based on a Broadway shows starring Bryan Cranston as Johnson, and although it never was shown in theaters in the U.S., the television film is a rare chance of trying to produce a balanced view of LBJ as he worked with Martin Luther King Jr. (Anthony Mackie) to try to bring about the Civil Rights Act, amongst other things. Having played the role on stage (much like Bellamy had with FDR), it was easy to see why Cranston would be excellent in the role. With a reevaluation of Johnson’s achievements while in office growing in more recent years, All the Way showed that the tide was beginning to turn in the way LBJ would be portrayed in movies."

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4. James Whitmore as Harry Truman, Give ‘Em Hell, Harry (1975): Real Presidents on Film

Another stage-born performance comes with James Whitmore (perhaps best remembered these days as Brooks Hatlen in the 1994 film The Shawshank Redemption) in this film where he plays Harry Truman.

Real Presidents on Film: "The movie," notes Sherman, "is a wall-to-wall one-man show, with Whitmore using Truman’s own words to tell us about his life, his presidency and his thoughts on the world after his retirement. The blocking of the cameras obviously makes clear this is a recording of the stage-play edited into a film for theaters, but that didn’t deter Whitmore from giving a warm and friendly performance that saw the Academy Awards nominating him for best actor in 1976, as well as winning a Grammy for his performance."

5. Josh Brolin as George W. Bush, W. (2008)

Oliver Stone gave us movies like JFK (1991) and Nixon (1995), but both faced an uphill climb in delivering conspiracy stories about the presidency (critical and box office response shows that JFK had greater success with the concept).

Real Presidents on Film: Dale Sherman points out, "Stone’s W. took a slightly different tact in that it plays at times as a comedy as well as a somewhat sympathetic tale of a man driven into power who knew he was not quite up to the task and seen as somewhat of a failure in the eyes of his father.

"The movie is also an important development for Hollywood in that it skewered a still-seated president that was not just friendly jostling in good humor, and Josh Brolin had the delicate act of playing Bush as someone trying the best he could in a position that he found thrust upon him. In doing so, Brolin makes what could have been a role written to be someone to laugh at into someone to wistfully wish the best for, even if it may not be playing with a full deck when it comes to accuracy."

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6. Frank Langella as Richard Nixon, Frost/Nixon (2008): Real Presidents on Film

Yet another arrival from Broadway came with Frank Langella as Richard M. Nixon in the film adaptation of the play Frost/Nixon. "The play and film both deal with the gamesmanship of a series of television interviews Nixon agreed to do with television presenter David Frost (Michael Sheen in both the play and film) that both wanted to use for their own goals," details Sherman. "Nixon to redeem his tarnished image, while Frost needing to cement his credentials as a serious, popular interviewer and host.

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"Neither quite get what they want in the end, but both Sheen and Langella manage to take what could have been a deathly two hours of talking heads and, with the help of a great cast and director Ron Howard, allow the two to show men who weren’t quite the braggarts history tends to portray them."

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7. Rene Auberjonois as James Buchanan, Raising Buchanan (2020)

A more recent feature is a comedy with Rene Auberjonois (Benson, Star Trek: Deep Space) getting a chance to shine as a main player in a movie soon before his death.

Real Presidents on Film: "This comedy," notes the author, "deals with a woman (Amanda Melby) and her friends in Arizona who steal the body of James Buchanan in hopes of ransoming it back to the government, only to discover that no one really cares that much. As the woman finds, her attempts to give the body back unwinds into a growing comedy of errors, she is repeatedly visited by the ghost of James Buchanan (Rene Auberjonois) who tries to instruct her in life as she examines his career in return.

"Auberjonois shines as Buchanan, commonly near or at the bottom of presidential polls, and with excellent writing by director Bruce Dellis, he's given a fairly accurate historical portrayal in the movie (well, as accurate as it can be when your character is a ghost). The film amounts to almost a redemption of Buchanan, while also being a funny, sweet movie and an absolute sleeper of a film that should be better known."

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8. William Daniels as John Adams, 1776 (1972): Real Presidents on Film

Once again we return to the Broadway stage, as the musical 1776 premiered there in 1969 and ran for three years before many members of the cast moved on to portray their roles in the movie version.

Real Presidents on Film: Observes Dale Sherman, "1776 was a fascinating step forward in the unpeeling of the 'superhero' impression we tended to view the 'Founding Fathers,' showing a more realistic vision of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence, even if they did occasionally break out into song and dance. William Daniels would originate the role of John Adams, and it was a fresh look at the second president that got away from the stuffed-shirt image many had of Adams, if they ever thought of him beyond being 'the guy between George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.'

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"Having commonly played stuffed-shirts in many movies and television shows over time, it was also a chance for Daniels to branch out a bit too, as Adams does everything possible to convince the members of Congress to pull together against the British. Surrounded in historical moments with a cast that includes Howard Da Silva and Ken Howard, the movie version captures the stage musical faithfully and gives us to chance to learn history in an entertaining fashion not commonly seen even in the movies.  Well worth a look."

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9. Bruce Greenwood as John F. Kennedy, Thirteen Days (2000)

Make no mistake, Thirteen Days is more about Kevin Costner as Kenneth O’Donnell than the president, but his character is pretty much written as an “everyman” who pulls all the other characters and aspects of the Cuban Missile Crisis together for the film.

Real Presidents on Film: "Bruce Greenwood plays JFK in the film and has a hearty amount of screen time along side Steven Culp as JFK’s brother, Robert F. Kennedy," Sherman explains. "With the movie working to humanize the president and his staff, Greenwood and Culp, along with Costner, have the delicate task of getting across the emotional context of the material that involves a lot of talking-head exposition. While not quite as nail-biting or as historically accurate as the 1974 television special The Missiles of October (featuring William Devane as JFK and Martin Sheen as RFK), Thirteen Days is visually a treat and gets the story across in a manner that shows how easily the country could have ended up in a nuclear war if men like JFK were not in charge."

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10. Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln (2012): Real Presidents on Film

There have been many portrayals of Lincoln since the dawn of cinema, which is understandable as many see Abraham Lincoln as one of the best presidents the nation ever had. Certainly a president that managed to keep the country together while it was nearly ripped to pieces at the peril of his own mental and physical health.

Real Presidents on Film: States Sherman, "Looking back at the history of biographical appearances in movies, Lincoln has popped up in more films, shorts and television shows (who can forget 'Space Lincoln' from Star Trek?) than any other president, although commonly in smaller roles. The number of biographical movies about Lincoln are surprisingly small, and namely focus on a select number of years in his lifetime, such as Henry Fonda playing Lincoln as a lawyer in Young Mr. Lincoln (1939) or Raymond Massey (a recurring Lincoln in other films and having played him on Broadway) in Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940), which focused on his political years before becoming president.

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"Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln is a rarity in its focus on the Civil War years from the perspective of Lincoln the man, while putting a major focus on the delicate political process taken to get the Thirteenth Amendment passed before the end of the war. Bringing the humanity of the man to the screen was Daniel Day-Lewis, who manages to not only look the part, but convey the weariness and perseverance of the president not only politically but emotionally with members of his family.

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"Perhaps the most fascinating thing about the film is how it ends: the biographical films about Lincoln before this one stop as we still see Lincoln alive and at some pinnacle of his powers. We leave Massay’s film with Lincoln fading off as his train pulls away from the camera; Fonda walks off in a growing storm; others end with him disappearing into fog or simply walking off-screen, thus foreshadowing what was to come, but not on the screen.

"Lincoln avoids showing us that death and in turn shows us the ramifications of that cruel act that we are unable to stop. Thus, the other movies allowed him to live on for us, but Lincoln doesn’t want to let us off that easy, and we are reminded that great men are still human, and we can easily drag them down to our level no matter how higher above us we wish to make them in our minds, or on the screen."

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